Several cloud related projects, mainly in the FP7, aimed at developing or testing new vehicle-related solutions
CITY MOVE has developed a new concept for urban delivery. Starting from the latest state-of-the-art technologies, which were adopted in the short-term, CITY MOVE has developed an innovative freight vehicle solution suitable for different needs of European cities. The solution of an industrial platform for freight transport vehicles has been designed to be adaptable and flexible to changes in the city commercial contest. The project aimed to develop an innovative and flexible vehicle, green and safe, purpose-designed for urban freight. Safety systems, regarding collision, roll-over avoidance and protection for vulnerable road users, were improved in the CITY MOVE vehicle. The project also created an exploitation plan, which results have provided opportunities for European business. The impact of CITY MOVE work was related to transportation efficiency, cleaner and quieter vehicles and it improved safety. The aim was to improve local air pollution and aid to achieve international emissions targets.
DELIVER aimed to develop a relevant impact on urban context thanks to the strong involvement of leading industrial partners. To achieve its goal, the project generated, investigated and analysed innovative design concepts for electric LDVs. While the majority European delivery vehicles were normal cars or trucks, not designed for freight transportation, DELIVER (Design of electric light vans for environment-impact reduction) aimed to design a more ergonomic vehicle thanks to updates of standard vehicle procedures, including payload area and engine systems. A further goal was a general increase in energy and delivery efficiency. The consortium completed the prototype in April 2014. The team continued with successful testing about driving dynamics, acoustics, ergonomics, electromagnetic efficiency and compatibility. DELIVER's new van offered a design that is more ergonomic, comfortable, efficient. Using the vehicle, fuel savings and improved air quality are foreseen in the future.
FREVUE demonstrated that electric vehicles operating “last mile” freight movements in urban centres can offer significant and achievable decarbonisation of the European transport system. The aim of the project was to demonstrate that the current electric fleet can offer a viable alternative to diesel vehicles - particularly when combined with state-of-the-art urban logistics applications, innovative logistics management software, and enhanced by a well-designed local policy. The project aimed to find solutions to implement EVs sector thanks to the support of European researchers. The final overall objective was to foster the exploitation of the best practice results through a targeted dissemination campaign aimed to reach the decision makers of logistics industry. FREVUE has created a network of “Phase 2” cities to directly share the lessons learned from the demonstrators. These cities were expected to be the first cities to expand the successful concepts developed by FR-EVUE.
FURBOT proposed new concept architectures for efficient sustainable urban freight transport and it has developed a vehicle prototype to demonstrate the performances expected considering the main paradigms of the new vehicle design. FURBOT represented a transport agent that can be used alone or in a fleet for a new sustainable and very adaptable urban freight transport system. Its design priorities included modularity, energy efficiency, mobility dexterity, safety, automated driving and freight robotised fork handling. Specifically, the system is based on the pick-up point concept — which includes Pick&Pay, Pack Stations and Bento Boxes — providing a new solution for e-commerce deliveries. It is also a cooperative freight system that integrates the resources of the cooperating companies to obtain more cost efficiency. The project’s dissemination activities focused on promoting the FURBOT vehicle and boxes into the mass market as well as the FURBOT transport system to numerous municipalities. Therefore, FURBOT fits in a radical new urban freight system. Lastly, the system also represents an opportunity to expand urban freight systems into city zones previously considered unsuitable for freight transportation.
V-FEATHER is based on the idea of designing and building urban light duty vehicles. This project was managed by industrial partners and was focused on energy efficiency, commercial viability, life cycle design with the aim to develop new technologies for LDVs lead by research institutes. The V-FEATHER vehicle architecture incorporated several innovative technologies that would be able to achieve higher energy efficiency. The main approaches and steps taken to achieve those goals included structurally integrated technologies aimed to decrease power requirements and to increase battery range thanks to weight reduction. The priority was to make the technology commercially viable and available to other OEM producers.